Mexico's extensive “unprotected” marine areas

Protected Natural Areas (ANP) are the tool par excellence used in Mexico for the conservation of nature and its biodiversity. They are defined as “terrestrial or aquatic portions of the national territory representative of the various ecosystems, where the original environment has not been essentially altered” (1). Currently, there are 182 ANP in our country, of which 62 are areas whose surface is totally or partially marine or coastal. ¹

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) represent an area of 75 million hectares of our territory, mainly concentrated in six regions. This is not a small number. According to the 2018 Environmental Performance Index (EPI), Mexico ranks first in the world in terms of the surface area of its MPAs (2).

This large proportion of territory is totally rational if we consider all the benefits that the seas and their coastlines offer us. Among them are the ecological benefits of being areas for the recovery of fishing stocks and for the protection of habitats and ecosystems. They also generate social and economic benefits for coastal communities that make a living from fishing and tourism. In 2019, there were more than 213 thousand people working directly in the fishing industry in our country, contributing 19.370 million pesos (3). According to the recently published study “Nature-based marine tourism in the Gulf of California and Baja California Peninsula: Economic benefits and key species” (4), each year nature-based marine tourism in the Gulf of California and the Baja California Peninsula generates a spill of $518 million, directly employing 3,575 people. In a broader sense, the sea and its coasts contribute to food security and to the reduction of poverty and the effects of climate change.

However, the constant reduction in funding in recent years (5) has hampered the operation of these spaces. According to data presented at the Workshop “Towards strengthening the System of Protected Natural Areas from the Legislative Scope”, from 2014 to 2020 there was an estimated reduction of 52.6% in the CONANP budget (6), while the protected area increased 2.5 times in this period.

On average, the fiscal budget allocated for operating costs in 2021 ² was only $0.17 pesos per ha; in addition, this figure is not uniform for all protected marine and coastal territory. ^{There are MPAs such as Playa de Rancho Nuevo to which $2,063.92 pesos per ha were allocated, while others such as Revillagigedo, had a budget of only $0.01 pesos per ha, not to mention the Mexican Deep Biosphere Reserve, which despite being the largest MPA in the country, was awarded practically zero pesos per ha 3.}

This is yet another sign that conservation is not valued by the current government. Marine protected areas seek the direct protection of deep habitats, their resources and the environmental services they provide, but without the budget to operate them, they become unprotected territories, exposed to overexploitation, degradation and the regrettable loss of the biodiversity that inhabits them.

Bibliography

(1) Conan (2016). Decreated protected natural areas. Mexico: gob.mx. Retrieved from: https://www.gob.mx/conanp/acciones-y-programas/areas-naturales-protegidas-decretadas

(2) Yale University (2018). Environmental Performance Index.

(3) INEGI (2019). Retrieved from: https://www.inegi.org.mx/app/tabulados/default.aspx?pr=18&vr=12&in=5&tp=20&wr=1&cno=2

(4) Cisneros-Montemayor, A., A. Townsel, C.M. Gonzales, A. R. Haas, E. E Navarro-Holm, T. Salorio-Zuñiga and A. F. Johnson. 2020. Nature-based marine tourism in the Gulf of California and Baja California Peninsula: Economic benefits and key species. Nat Resource Forum. 2020; 1—18.

(5) FUNDAR, NIPARAJA AND PRONATURA NOROESTE (2020). Take care of what matters. Budget for natural heritage. A look at the budget for Protected Natural Areas. Retrieved from: https://fundar.org.mx/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Cuidar-lo-que-importa-presupuesto-patrimonio-natural-2020.pdf

(6) Jorge Plaza Quintana (2020). Analysis of proposals to strengthen the CONANP budget. Workshop “Towards strengthening the System of Protected Natural Areas from the Legislative Scope”. Retrieved from: https://www.polea.org.mx/evento.php?id=44